Live Fighting conch photo by Carla Barone
Just in time for Halloween…. The Invasion of the Fighting Conchs! Ooooh. Scary!
I didn’t make it down to Bonita Beach to see the beached FIGHTING CONCH phenomenon that I posted about yesterday (click HERE to go to that post) but our blog buddy Carla took great photos of the beach littered with these seashells. We still don’t know why there are so many dying but they are testing the water so when/if we find out, I’ll keep you posted. I’m hoping the answer is what Dr. Jose Leal quoted in the article yesterday “It could be mating”.
Conchs at Little Hickory photo by Carla Barone
Pile of fighting conchs photo by Carla Barone
Shellers wait for great days when there are piles of shells on the beach… but maybe not like this. It seems so sad. Carla said “They were piled up at the jetty’s today~100’s of them. I have seen days when they were stranded before but not piled up like that~sad…and stinky too.”
Little Hickory conchs photo by Carla Barone
Thank you Carla for showing us your photos. I’m just happy we didn’t have to smell them- no “scratch ‘n sniff” thank goodness.
Fighting conchs photo by Carla Barone
I checked out the beach to see if there was anything like it on Captiva today at Blind Pass. Nothing like Carla saw but there are some shells rolling in and the water is fabulous!
Captiva's Blind Pass sand bar showing
Betsy (Unionville, PA) not disappointed in the shelling
Shelling at Blind Pass
Hi!
Very very happy memories of shelling on the Gulf Coast – too bad about the piles of conch shells though. Hope it is just a simple freak of nature.
Tweeted for you!
Caron
Wow, amazing the way they are piled up – not so sorry I missed it now, what a sad signt!
Wish Blind Pass looked like that when I was there! Amazing how the tide is so far out. I bet the shelling is very good when it’s like that.
So sad! It is amazing to see the photos…
Breaks my heart to see so many of them piled on the sand.
In regards to the fighting conchs…
I have to point out something funny (or maybe not) I heard on the news.
A tourist when interviewed by the local news stations said, “This is rediculous, someone needs to clean this mess up!”
Instead of being amazed by the phenomenon another was complaining about having a hard time walking on the beach without stepping on one!
People never cease to amaze me. Do they not realize WE are in the conch’s territory? Haha!
Amazing. “someone needs to clean this mess up”? Ya just gotta laugh, right?
I thought you would get a kick out of it. LOL!
I’ve seen this happen twice before. Once on Lover’s Key back in the mid 1990’s, and on north Clearwater Beach in about 2004. It is amazing. Based on these photos, it appears that this Bonita Beach stranding is larger than either of the two I saw, though both involved tens of thousands of Strombus alatus. I blogged about it here:
http://www.blogthebeach.com/?p=2563
I’ll go back and add a link to your blog post so folks can come and see the excellent photos contributed by Carla Barone.
Beautiful pictures of Blind Pass. I’ll be there soon. I can’t wait!
Such a sad sight. Fighting Conchs are one of my most favorite shells.
Great photos to you both Carla & Pam. I really hope for some great shelling on our next trip. From Lighthouse Beach to Blind Pass there’s so many great spots for shelling. I can’t get over how many conchs are in one spot, I’ve never seen anything like that.
I can’t get over those photos of all the conchs that washed up. I hope they survived!!
Hi Pam! Boy, I’ve been looking around at all I missed during my latest move and honey, the shelling there has been amazing! And I can’t believe I missed out on your fab giveaway and the chance to wish you a Happy One Year Blogaversary. Your blog has grown by leaps and bounds and it couldn’t happen to a nicer sheller.
Happy to be back with my beachy friends! Hugs.
Amazing and heartbreaking at the same time…….
Wow. Thank you, Carla, for sharing these photos!
Really amazing photos. I have never seen anything like this.
To find so many is indeed sad. I hope it’s a natural occurence, not related to industry, or the hand of man in some other way.
The conchs were out by the thousands and thousands up and down the beach at Upham Beach today. They were everywhere. We stepped around them to get out to a comfortable depth and floated around on floaties for about 40 min. When we started back to our chairs, expecting to step around them again, they were ALL gone. ALL of them. ??? Amazing phenomena which I have never seen in my 35 years at the beach.
It is happening again. There have been thousands and thousands on Marco island and I heard also on Sanibel.